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Watch: Glen Gulutzan loses marbles, stick during Flames practice

The preparation on this stick toss by Glen Gulutzan is nearly perfect. The toss itself was a clean 10/10. (Twitter/Tim and Sid)

Those January blues seem to have Calgary Flames bench boss Glen Gulutzan, just like all of us, slightly on edge.

Coming off their second straight win — yes, win — the Flames were apparently looking a little too lackadaisical during Friday’s practice. To send a message to his club, which currently sits tied for 11th in the Western Conference but only three points out of a playoff spot, Gulutzan unleashed a fire-and-fury verbal rampage on his troops before consummating the glorious tirade with an all-world stick throw into the Scotiabank Saddledome rafters.

Gulutzan explained to reporters why he exploded on his guys despite a victory over the LA Kings on Thursday and two straight W’s overall.

“These reminders come best when you win. There’s a level that we need to be at on a daily basis. It’s an everyday league. It’s not warm and fuzzy. It’s every day. Today, what you saw was a coach reminding his team that one game doesn’t make a season,” he said, via TSN.

It was certainly no mystery just how upset Gulutzan was during practice and especially during his minute-long, stick-launching tirade. There remains a couple unanswered questions, however: Just how far into the rafters did the coach manage to chuck his twig, and where did it land? These crucial queries needed answers, and TSN reporter Jermaine Franklin provided us with the goods.

Gulutzan’s low centre of gravity, smooth arm extension through the rotation and follow-through with his hands finishing up high created the perfect combination of torque and an ideal launch angle — resulting in maximum accuracy and distance.

Never mind all the f-bombs, if respect and admiration for that glorious stick toss doesn’t get the Flames’ attention, nothing will.